On May 24, 2018, the American "Cygnus” (CRS OA-9E “S.S. J.R. Thompson”) private unmanned supply spacecraft was docked to the International Space Station (ISS). The Cygnus spacecraft was grappled by a robotic arm operated by astronauts inside the space station at 09:26 UTC. The cargo spacecraft was docked to the station’s "Unity” module at 12:13 UTC. The spacecraft delivered about 3300 kilograms of supplies to the Space Station. It was the 9th docking of a "Cygnus” spacecraft with the ISS.

On May 22, 2018 at 19:47 UTC the " Falcon-9” rocket-carrier was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA. The launch was performed by the "SpaceX” private company supported by the 30th Space Wing of US Air Force. The rocket orbited 7 satellites: 5 Iridium-NEXT communication satellites and the 2 identical GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment - Follow On) satellites for a cooperative project managed by NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences.

On May 21, 2018 at 08:44 UTC the "Cygnus” privately owned U.S. unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, USA. The spacecraft was orbited by the “Antares 230” rocket-carrier. The "Cygnus” (CRS OA-9E “S.S. J.R. Thompson”) unmanned supply spacecraft, built by U.S. space firm Orbital Sciences Corp., was orbited on its cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. CRS means Commercial Resupply Services. The "Cygnus” (CRS OA-9E) is the 9th successful flight of the Orbital ATK uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus.